the one after rock climbing

[ S2 0.1 ]

" up." Eleanor snapped at the several teenagers laughing at Erica as she walked out of the gymnasium, shaking. The demand seemed to silence everyone.

She turned to Stiles and Scott, whom were the closest to her. "I'm going to check on her."

With that, she pushed past her inconsiderate peers and followed the sound of Erica's soft cries into the toilets of the changing rooms. Her face softened as she saw the poor girls state, and she quietly made her way to sit beside her, although not the most sanitary place to lounge.

Erica looked to her side and almost sneered as she saw Eleanor, trying to wipe her face furiously to rid the tears. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be laughing with everyone else?"

Eleanor frowned. "Of course not, everyone out there are assholes. It's not right that they laughed Erica, and I made sure that they knew that after you left. I just came to make sure you were okay."

"Do I look okay?" She snapped, pulling her knees to her chest. "You don't really care, nobody does. Just go back to all your popular friends, I'm not going to tell you anything."

Eleanor seemed taken back by the insinuation that all she was there for was to get the 411 on Erica Reyes, to get some good gossip for the entire school to hear. That wasn't Eleanor. It might be every other popular, but it wasn't Eleanor.

"I would never do that! I do care Erica, you might not believe it but I do. I know how you feel-"

"No you don't." She croaked. "You can pretend you do but you don't. What problems would the amazing Eleanor Hale even have? You don't have any. You have no clue what it's like to be lonely."

Eleanor tried not to take anything Erica said personally, but she wanted to prove to her that she wasn't just a popular girl at school, she was more than that. "I may not know exactly how you feel, but I have a pretty good idea. Just last year my brother got arrested for the suspected murder of my sister, at some point, none of my best friends believed me and me and my brother were the siblings of a murderer. Before I came to this school, I used to be exactly like you, believe it or not. I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't see anyone, I cut myself off from everyone I knew because of a stupid boy that broke my heart. I was lonely. I know what it's like to feel lonely Erica, and I don't want you to feel what I did. I'm not here to get the 411, I'm here to be your friend. I just want to help."

During her small speech, Erica had slowly stared to lift her head, and had stopped avoiding eye contact with Eleanor. She hadn't realised how inconsiderate she was being, and she was starting to grasp the concept of Eleanor actually wanting to help. She was in shock.

"You're not like anyone else." Eleanor scrunched her brows in confusion. "You're different from all the others. Nobody else would even bother with me."

Eleanor sighed, leaning closer to the innocent girl as she shrugged. "Like I said, everyone else are assholes, they don't have an empathetic bone in their body. Everyone deserves to have friends Erica, and I want to be yours."

"You'd be the first."

"And I'd be honoured." Eleanor replied almost immediately as Erica showed her first smile of the day.

"Thank you for this."

"It's not a problem, I'm happy I could cheer you up." She smiled, standing to her feet as she held out her hand for Erica to take. "You're a badass female who can do anything you put your mind to. Don't worry about what the losers out there think, you had a bad day, you won't have a bad life."

And for once, Erica had hope.

[ S2 0.1 ]